Minimum Wage

Ryan Laconte, 21, recently got a minimum-wage job at a McDonald's in Boca Raton , and he's happy to have it. On Jan. 1, he and other minimum-wage earners will get a raise: a 36-cent bump in Florida's minimum wage, which rises to $7.67 an hour from $7.31 on Jan. 1, 2012. The state rate must keep pace with inflation, due to a constitutional amendment in 2004. "That sounds good," said Laconte about the automatic pay hike. The extra pay per hour will help the family income, he said.

It used to be that you could support a family on a minimum wage salary. Today, a minimum wage worker has to make a choice every day: buy a gallon of milk for the kids, or buy a gallon of gas to get to work. The current national minimum wage, frozen at $7.25 per hour since 2009, simply hasn't kept up with inflation. As a matter of fact, its purchasing power has declined by one-third since the 1960s, and it's worth less today than it was in 1981. Bus fare has certainly gone up since 1981.

I see that minimum wage is in the news again, and I have some concerns for all those "Republicats. " I have tried to wrap my mind around this: The government has a table they use to give us a snapshot of us — poverty-wise. It shows that $10,890 is the 2011 individual federal poverty bottom level. (How they arrived at this is still a bit confusing to me.) Let's do some math. If someone works at minimum-wage job for a 40 hours/week, for 52 weeks a year, that's 2,080 work hours a year.

Editor's Note: Previously, we've published excerpts from interviews with Gov. Rick Scott and former state Sen. Nan Rich. Today, edited for space, is a conversation with former Gov. Charlie Crist, who hopes to get his old job back. Q. Make your case. Why does Gov. Rick Scott not deserve to be re-elected? Unemployment came down during his first term and the economy is growing. Why should voters change course? Because we deserve better. I think we're getting by as a state.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in almost a decade, but added small-business tax breaks that are unacceptable to House leaders, preventing Democrats from claiming a quick victory on one of their top priorities. The Senate voted 94-3 in favor of the measure, which would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour from $5.15 over two years. To attract Republican support, Senate leaders agreed to extend tax credits and expand deductions for businesses that would be hit hardest by the minimum-wage increase.

Ending a political battle Democrats had played to their advantage for months, President Clinton signed legislation on Tuesday raising the minimum wage by 90 cents an hour over the next year. The increase will raise the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour, from $4.25, in two steps. The first step is an increase of 50 cents an hour in paychecks effective Oct. 1, a month before Election Day. Sounding a theme that will be central to his re-election campaign, Clinton said the increase was part of his administration's record of improving conditions for working Americans.

Laura Hansen sees first-hand where many workers in South Florida toiling at minimum-wage jobs live -- at homeless shelters. As CEO of the Broward Coalition for the Homeless, Hansen is among the advocates for the poor who want Florida voters to have a say in creating a $6.15-an-hour state minimum wage law for low-wage workers in the Sunshine State. Current federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour and hasn't been raised in six years. "Even two parents working at minimum wage have trouble paying rent and putting food on the table," said Hansen.

The economy is humming, the federal budget is in the black, and elections are more than a year away. It's a safe time, in other words, for Congress to give itself a pay raise. But the same group that voted last week to increase its own salaries by $4,600 a year has run out of excuses to deny minimum-wage earners a raise, too. Members of Congress will now make $141,300 a year. A minimum-wage worker makes $10,712, well below the poverty threshold for a family of three. Some lawmakers want to increase the minimum wage from the current $5.15 an hour to $6.15 over the next two years.

While Congress ponders raising the minimum wage above $4.25, America's teen-agers are forcing the issue in the marketplace. As the economy improves, the jobless rate drops and more and better jobs become available, young workers are demanding higher pay. That, and a shrinking pool of these teen-age workers, has forced fast-food restaurants and other low-paying employers to raise their pay scales. "There's a lot of competition for summer jobs," acknowledged Lisa Garrett, personnel supervisor at Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City, Mo. "And we're not alone.

By William E. Gibson and Marcia Heroux Pounds Staff writers and Staff writer Tom Stieghorst also contributed to this report, January 10, 2007

Thousands of Florida workers eventually would get a pay raise if Congress enacts legislation to lift the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, but most employers say they pay far more to fill jobs. A state amendment and a demand for workers are pushing pay well above the current federal minimum of $5.15 an hour, which has not changed since 1997. "I can't get a prep cook for under $9 an hour," said Tim Petrillo, who employs about 400 people at four restaurants in Fort Lauderdale.

Regarding the Aug. 4 article, "Crist's 'fairness' pledge riles GOP": I've learned to replace the words spoken by politicians with the exact opposite. Charlie Crist says it's fair to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. Fair to whom? Employers who pay the $10.10? The workers who already make $10.10 based on their hard work? When I was hired as a minimum wage worker in the 1970s, I was overpaid. I knew nothing about the job and had to be trained. It may sound fair that all workers doing the same job should be paid the same, but do all workers do the same amount of work?

Boosting the minimum wage is good politics and bad economics. It's a flagrant pay-off by President Obama to labor unions and special interests groups. In line with specious liberal reasoning, the higher the minimum wage, the more prosperous the worker will be. If so, why not $20 per hour? A basic law of economics states that the higher the price of something, the smaller the quantity demanded. When a minimum wage is established at a level above the one that would be determined by market forces, employment opportunities are reduced for the least productive workers.

Swedish retailer IKEA employees in Sunrise and Miami who make the minimum wage got a pay hike this week. IKEA is raising its minimum hourly wage to $10.76 from $9.17 for U.S. store employees. The new minimum is above Florida's basic wage, which rose to $7.93 on Jan. 1. There are 700 hourly store employees in South Florida, local store manager Selwyn Crittendon said. The increase, which reflects the increased cost of living, affects about half its U.S. employees, IKEA said. —Marcia Heroux Pounds

In the June 1 letter, "The minimum wage is not a living wage," the writer assumes that the minimum wage is mostly paid to part-time and retired workers. This is inaccurate. Most restaurant servers, busboys, dishwashers and prep people are paid minimum wage. For accurate information, he should ask someone with experience — someone who pays $10.10 per hour and provides health care benefits for minimum-wage employees. I have owned Caffe Luna Rosa for 21 years, the oldest same proprietorship restaurant in Delray Beach . We pay $10.10 per hour and provide our share of health care.

Mayor Richard Kaplan has taken up the call for a $10.10 minimum hourly wage that President Obama is pushing nationally, proposing the city adopt such a "living wage" for its employees. But Kaplan is holding off because he found out it might actually cost the city money. While its current lowest paid employee is a lifeguard earning $11.44 an hour, it is set to hire a summer camp counselor at $9.50 an hour and a camp leader at $8.25 an hour. Kaplan would like to see those workers paid more, too, but he wants to discuss it with commissioners first because the extra cost – about $1,000 – was not budgeted this year.

Monroe Udell lived like the Kitchen Sink, the signature monster sundae at the ice cream shop he built into a South Florida institution: He threw a lot of good stuff in, and made a lot of people smile in the process. Udell - the founder, heart and soul of Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant in Dania Beach - passed away this weekend at his Hollywood home, following a bout with cancer. Already the reviews are in: The life, times and legacies of Mr. Udell will be remembered for a long time.

A member of Congress making $162,100 a year probably has little comprehension of how difficult it would be to live on less than 1/15 of that amount. That cognition chasm appears to be especially wide and deep for many Republican members of Congress. Last week, the Senate voted 49-46 against a proposal by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to boost the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour -- a $2.10 increase. Kennedy had proposed the long-overdue pay hike -- which would have come in three stages over two years -- as an amendment to a bankruptcy reform bill.

I keep reading letters from people who believe the minimum wage should be increased. These letter writers are misguided. First, we need to dispel this talk about a "living wage. " The minimum wage is not, and never has been, intended to produce a "living wage" — the market does that. The minimum wage generally applies to part-time workers and others who do not require a full living wage. Students, retirees and those with other incomes make up the bulk of the minimum-wage workers.

America is becoming a more tolerant and enlightened nation. We are more aware of our oneness and our obligations to each other. We are less willing to accept the inequities of a system that enables the rich and marginalizes the poor. We want to expand civil rights, protect our planet and enact compassionate, sensible drug laws. Florida's junior senator seems oblivious to this shift. He is against too much of what most Americans are for. Once touted as the savior of the Republican Party, Rubio has been little more than a standard bearer for the status quo. That keeps the GOP alienated from the very voters — Latinos, African-Americans, women and young people — it needs to win national elections.